There are many gasoline and other petroleum product delivery units or pumps, adapted to being used by motorists without the assistance of any particular personnel. It has been found that many individuals are careless in the manner in which they utilize the delivery units placed at their disposal in the so-called "self-service" filling stations, and particularly that they leave a substantial length of the flexible hose lying on the ground both when they fill up the fuel tank of their vehicle and when they return the delivery nozzle, provided on the end of the flexible hose, to its storage space.
Flexible hoses lying in this way on the ground wear out quickly. It often happens that vehicles run over them and they are an obstacle for unobservant predestrains, such that they have been often the source of accidents.
For remedying such disadvantages, various solutions have been proposed; particularly, it has been proposed to mount along the delivery unit or pump a flexible rod formed at its top with a loop holding the flexible hose. During use, the rod is caused to flex and then supports the hose so as to prevent it from touching the ground.
Installations have also been proposed with the hose hanging down from a suspended support and supported by rubber extensible cords of the "sandow" type. This latter arrangement requires that a very important length of flexible hose be used, thereby increasing the cost of the installation. Likewise, the delivery units or pumps are rather difficult of access and the fuel delivery pipes are of course very complex.
The efficiency of the flexible rod devices is limited since the rods often break.
The present invention obviates those various disadvantages by providing a new mechanism enabling to use only a short length of flexible hose stored inside the housing of the delivery unit itself, and, moreover, the device of the invention is such that a heavy traction need not be exerted on the hose when the delivery nozzle is used.